Adoption Support Center

A few tips for putting your best face forward online

It's probably the last thing you want to think about, but, as an ASC couple, you will be placing your smiling faces on our website for the world to see.

Relax...

A nice casual shot usually looks better than a posed pic. You look more at-ease and more like yourselves. There are limits, though. That shot of the two of you right after the Jimmy Buffett concert may not be the best choice. The two of you hiking in the Smokies? Relaxing together on the loveseat? Much nicer.

Get together...

Let's say you decide to take a new picture, especially for our website. What now? Cuddle up! Hug! Move a little closer together! It's important to see your faces. It's also important that you look like a couple. When you two are far apart in a picture, you defeat both needs.

In the example above, you can see how much more appealing the closer pose on the left is, compared to the “distant” pose. Oh, and smile!

One more request! Please don't worry about sending us cropped pictures. We'll do the cropping! Just snuggle-up and go ahead and leave some surrounding space in the picture, please.

And baby makes three...

Some adoptive couples already happen to have a child. Obviously, you'll want to include them as well. If you keep in-mind that you're posing yourselves inside a small box, you can easily arrange yourselves to your best advantage.

As you can see in the example above, the time-honored inverted-pyramid pose works perfectly to show off the family. Experiment. Get down on the floor in a pile. Be yourselves!

(By the way...this works equally as well when posing with the family dog, too)

Let the sun shine...

Outdoor shots are always nice. However, that big old sun can cause some problems you need to watch out for. Always try to keep the sun in front of you. When the sun is behind you, it's easy to get a really bright background and the two of you in shadow. Of course, you don't want it right in your eyes either, so a little off to the side would be best. And no sunglasses! People want to see those baby-blues...or greens...or browns.

Technically speaking...

So, now you have your pictures. How do you get them online at ASC?

For those of you shooting on film, your best bet is to get them developed somewhere that promises accurate color and large prints. We will take the selected print and scan it for inclusion on our website. A crisp, clean print on smooth paper will assure a quality scan.

Most couples have digital cameras these days and, while digital is a great format, there are some aspects that you need to be aware of. First of all, whenever possible, we would prefer to have the actual digital file to work with. This allows us to put the best possible image on our website. It doesn't need to be a super-high-resolution, 1000ppi image, either. A basic, good-quality setting will do just fine.

Sometimes, couples give us print-outs of their digital pics. This forces us to scan the print for addition to the website. Unfortunately, the typical print-out is usually done on the family ink-jet and, while it may be the very best ink-jet, it's still millions of little ink dots on paper. The scanner can see all of these little dots, even if your own eyes can't. The result is an image that can look grainy, overly saturated, posterized, and just plain funky. So, if you can, please provide the digital file for our website.

Now, say “cheese” and get shooting!